Workaholism, Work Engagement and Child Well-Being: A Test of the Spillover-Crossover Model

Akihito Shimazu, Arnold B. Bakker, Evangelia Demerouti, Takeo Fujiwara, Noboru Iwata, Kyoko Shimada, Masaya Takahashi, Masahito Tokita, Izumi Watai and Norito Kawakami
Additional contact information
Akihito Shimazu: Department of Policy Management, Keio University, 5322 Endo, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 252-0882, Japan
Arnold B. Bakker: Center of Excellence for Positive Organizational Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Evangelia Demerouti: Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Takeo Fujiwara: Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan
Noboru Iwata: Department of Nursing, Kiryu University, 606 Azami, Kasakake-Cho, Midori, Gunma 379-2393, Japan
Kyoko Shimada: Institute of Social Sciences, Toyo University, 5-28-20, Hakusan, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8606, Japan
Masaya Takahashi: Research Center for Overwork-Related Disorders, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, 6-21-1, Nagao, Tama-ku, Kawasaki 214-8585, Japan
Masahito Tokita: Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, 5322 Endo, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 252-0882, Japan
Izumi Watai: Community Health Nursing, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1, Handayama, Higashi-ku, Hamamatsu 431-3192, Japan
Norito Kawakami: Department of Mental Health, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 17, 1-16

Abstract: This study examines how working parents’ work attitudes (i.e., workaholism and work engagement) are associated with their child’s psychological well-being. Based on the Spillover-Crossover model (SCM), we hypothesize that (a) work-to-family spillover (i.e., work-to-family conflict and facilitation) and (b) employee happiness will sequentially mediate the relationship between parents’ work attitudes and their child’s emotional and behavioral problems. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among Japanese dual-earner couples with pre-school child(ren). On the basis of valid data from 208 families, the hypothesized model was tested using structural equation modeling. For both fathers and mothers simultaneously, workaholism was positively related to work-to-family conflict, which, in turn, was negatively related to happiness. In contrast, work engagement was positively related to work-to-family facilitation, which, in turn, was positively related to happiness. Fathers’ and mothers’ happiness, in turn, were negatively related to their child’s emotional and behavioral problems. Results suggest that parents’ workaholism and work engagement are related to their child’s emotional and behavioral problems in opposite ways, whereby parents’ spillover and happiness mediate this relationship. These findings support the SCM and suggest that decreasing workaholism and improving work engagement may not only improve employees’ happiness, but also decrease their child’s emotional and behavioral problems.

Keywords: happiness; spillover-crossover model; workaholism; work engagement; work-family balance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/17/6213/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/17/6213/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:17:p:6213-:d:404725

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().